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Old October 31st, 2014, 02:26 AM

Dubious Dubious is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2001
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Post Re: General Discussion

Found what appears to be a bug (which may only be in the demo):

Same date (41.46.06), reloading save game in sector 6, while still at the station (undocked but no movement):
Commodity: Transuranium.
Before saving:
Buy $478 Sector 4; Sell $432 Sector 1
After reloading:
Buy $1434 Sector 4; Sell $1298 Sector 6 (red text).

Is there a "debug mode" that would provide more meaningful data?

If this is "working as designed" (WAD), it's going to cause a lot of consternation. Prices shouldn't change merely by undocking/docking again, even though the docking fee changes each time. They don't appear to normally.

I did notice that if you "close the game window" instead of going through the "save and quit" menu, you re-enter in the same sector but at a different location. IIRC, it looks like perhaps at the warp entry point? So, apparently you can't exit without some sort of saving occurring, but if you don't use the menu it's somewhat incomplete. Experience with other games suggests this has the potential to create corrupt saves down the road.

Other observations and questions:

The "media\Text" subfolder has the "HelpFile.txt" which appears in the DEMO, and also a "HelpFileNEW.txt" which has even more information.

Achievements only earn "pay it forward" bonuses. They have "break points" at different levels for different events: 10, 30, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000, etc; with multiple levels per event.

"Best" does not equal "profitable". At least one instance where the "best buy" was still higher than the "best sell" price.
Suggestion: Commodities screen needs the last known price in the "Best" sectors for both Buy and Sell. Date or Time elapsed since prices were updated would also be helpful in judging accuracy/risk.

But even that is no substitute for tracking the prices at each location, so some way to save/export the screen data (CSV file with headers) in each sector would be a major help to the player.
Is the duration of pricing before it is outdated fixed or variable?

Observation: Initially trading with a small (13 available cargo) ship seemed unsustainable. I got lucky with a Red commodity in one sector, and expect to take a bath when I arrive to find it back to normal (or worse) when I arrive with a full hold of a single good on my second "double sector jump" trip. Don't figure to risk it on a third trip, but will track it. Hoping to get a RNG 2 drive before that happens.

So far, tracking through 8 trades has shown a "pure trading" gross profit of $5569 (after my first "red" delivery). That does not take into account Docking and resupply expenses because I initially wasn't tracking them. But those expenses across 4 trades total $4701, so while my credit balance is up (at the moment), I'm only barely keeping ahead of expenses. (And there are probably flaws in my spreadsheet as it's evolving over time.) But this is with the starting ship (Assault Scout) which is not really designed for trading. Time will tell.

Docking fees vary each time you dock, even without movement or time elapse. Cost per "50 Supplies" varies per visit, but as I have been buying as soon as I dock, I can't tell if they vary per docking as well. In the three instances where I tracked resupply costs across the same 3 sectors, the "completely restock" cost varied by direction. That is: two instances from sector 6 to 4: 33 units of 50. One instance from sector 4 to 6: 46 units of 50. (Determined by dividing the complete resupply price by the "per 50" price.)

(Wait One Turn) = Consumes 7 ticks (days?) on clock, Supplies Used = Reactor SU, Cooldown = -1.
Clock appears to roll over at 100 ticks.
Ship Move 1 "tile" = Consumes 7 ticks on clock, Supplies = Reactor + Engine SU, Cooldown = -1.
Warp 1 sector = Consumes 0 ticks on clock, SU = varies (distance?). Drive = Cooldown.

Warp SU based upon /tied to what? Is it supposed to vary?
Warp sector 6 to 5: 250SU. 41.47.96.
Warp sector 6 to 5: 404SU. 41.66.28.
I tracked three other instances in both directions which consumed 250 SU each time. Observations were taken at the warp point immediately before and after jumping without movement.

Cloak apparently remains active through warp. (Shading of the ship appears the only way to tell it is active while cooling down, and this can vary based on tile contents.) However, about this time the Gruffs and Pirates got Friendly with me and stopped attacking, so it's not confirmed.

Time does not pass while docked to a station, but does when you undock and then redock (for another docking fee).

Pay attention to hailing messages. Attitudes change over time.
Tentaculon are scientists. Friendlier the more data you sell and don't interfere their ships.
Gruff and Pirates get friendlier when you defeat enough (14 for me) of them (?and then evade them with Cloak?). Circumstance are not clear, but a welcome (and less expensive) situation.

Speed: Apparently Positive is faster, negative is slower.
Zero is "normal", equals 1 "tile" movement in 7 clock ticks? (Need to confirm on planets.)
Do "+/-" speed adjustments affect clock ticks consumed?
Is OXY(suits)/SU(ships) consumption based on elapsed time or tiles moved? (Is there a difference?)
How do we compare it with alien ships/creatures SPD?

EVA Suits:
Is a suit's DR "per turn"? (Assuming yes, but not confirmed.)
What reduces a suit's HP? Just environmental effects (i.e. radiation/toxic), or creature damage, or both? (Assuming both, but not confirmed.)
Is suit VIS the number of surrounding spaces visible (without obstructions)? (Assuming yes, but not confirmed.)

Looking forward to the game's release.

-Dubious-
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All sources are dubious until their reliabilty has been repeatedly proven. Even then their information should be independently verified.
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Last edited by Dubious; October 31st, 2014 at 02:54 AM.. Reason: Clarifications
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